this morning on "early today," unfriendly skies. the faa investigates two separate instances of loose seats on american airlines flights. political showdown. president obama and mitt romney hunker down for their high stakes debate in denver. and bumpy ride. a 10-year-old philadelphia boy is arrested after swiping and a 10-year-old philadelphia boy is arrested after swiping and crashing a van. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with air scare. suspicion is swirling around

american airlines after two flights in three days were returned to new york's jfk airport. the reason, passenger seats came loose on both planes. the first incident occurred on a flight from miami to boston. >> during flights, passenger seats came loose out of the floor. passengers are unable to sit in that seat. >> the federal aviation administration says seating in both plains had undergone maintenance. they have grounded eight 757s for inspection. to politics where president obama and rival mitt romney will not be campaigning today, opting instead to prep for the first of the three debates that they will have starting tomorrow night in denver. republicans are hoping it will be a game changer for their nominee who right now trails the president in every battleground state. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with all of those

details. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. for both campaigns this debate brings both challenge and opportunity. as denver gets ready for tomorrow night's first presidential debate, so are the candidates. >> it'll be a conversation with the american people that will span almost an entire month. we'll get to describe our respective views. >> reporter: romney is hoping to pick up a few votes with an endorsement from football great john elway. president obama is taking the personal approach to nail down votes. >> this is barack obama. >> reporter: and like romney, the president sees this debate as a chance to talk to america. >> it's a choice between two different paths for this country. it's a choice between two fundamentally different visions for our nation. >> reporter: the president has a lead in all nine of the key battleground states, including ohio, which begins early balloting today. >> romney's task is difficult because he has to redefine himself as well as redefining

the election. >> reporter: an election only 35 days away but still far from over. and the first debate is on the domestic issues that are defining this election. ryan moore in washington. thanks. the candidates for the u.s. senate seat in massachusetts, scott brown and elizabeth warren, debated for the second time last night. the two were combative as they staked out opposite issues from jobs and bringing troops home. david gregory from "meet the press" as moderator, they clashed over brown's claim of partisan independence. >> if he's re-elected, that increases the odds that the republicans will control the senate and that he can block president obama's agenda. >> if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to it -- >> can we just -- >> exme. >> i'm he not a student in your

classroom. please let me respond. thank you. >> recent polls before the debate show elizabeth warren with a small lead over scott brown. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. joyriding may land one philadelphia child in jail. police are preparing to charge the 10-year-old with auto theft. surveillance video shows the young driver crashing the stolen van right into parked cars there. he did attempt to escape but was stopped by a witness and held until police arrived. approximately 30 amtrak passengers suffered injuries. the crash caused three cars to derail and pinned the truck driver inside his vehicle. according to officials, the semi drove past the rail crossing into the train. investigators have not determined why the driver did not stop. well, four men in mississippi battled the monster and lived to tell a tale. look at that. the hunters captured a 40 foot

long alligator that weighs 697 pounds. once they hooked the animal, it took them two hours to get it close enough for the fatal gunshot. the catch is the largest in state history. and finally, fried foods usually get all the press at texas state fairs, but not on monday. chefs used 635 bags of frito corn chips, 635 cans of who are mel chilly and 585 bags of shredded cheese to make the world's largest frito chili pi. it weighed over 1300 pounds. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. bill, good morning. >> put fritos on anything. >> it will be delicious. on eggs. >> and that gator. scary. >> i know. >> i can't believe that thing was in the wild.

>> he was pretty traumatized. >> i lived in florida for a while. i was petrified always. >> golfed next to that thing. >> i hit a couple. as far as the forecast goes, enjoy the warmth while you can. that's the bottom line. all indications that we're heading for a chilly weather pattern. out ahead of it we still have a lot of moisture moving through the eastern half of the country. numerous locations are dealing with showers at this hour. nothing too bad out there, but we will see hit and miss areas of showers and storms all the way from many of the big cities in the east. right now we're not really seeing too many problems on the storm tracker radar. yesterday we didn't see all that many nasty storms. what's going to happen is the weather pattern is going to change. we have a big area of low pressure that's going to be moving down from the north and swing a cold front through the northern plains. today will be in the 80s. enjoy today. temperatures will take a big dip. it will track across the border of the u.s. and canada. behind it the coolest air of the season.

many areas if you haven't had a frost or freeze yet, you will, including colorado. there's a potential that some areas could see snow in the northern rockies, maybe some spots of colorado as we go throughout friday into saturday. today you're in the 80s in areas of montana. tomorrow will be the 40s. enjoy it in minneapolis. the warmest day you'll have. middle of the country looks gorgeous. numerous showers on the eastern seaboard. you do need the umbrella in many of the areas if you live in the east. here's a look at the weather outside your window. chance of showers and storms many areas of florida. little slug of tropical moisture. prepare for a lot of wet weather dod if you're in the sunshine state. we'll see shower and storms today hit and miss ohio valley. it's the first snow and the first cold air that gets your attention. >> i know. you know how much i love it. >> time to change the wardrobe. >> i've already done that.

bill, thanks. coming up, manufacturing grows, a salmonella scare spreads and a dreamliner lands somewhere under a rainbow. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, why taylor swift is calling out former flame john mayer. you're watching ea"early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. if the u.s. goes over the so-called fiscal cliff in january, it will cost almost 90% of americans more in taxes for a total of $536 billion. taxes for a typical middle income family making 40 to $64,000 a year could go up by $2,000. in california, governor jerry brown signed a bill that would allow half a million young illegal immigrants who qualify

for the federal work permit program to obtain driver's licenses. near hong kong at least 36 people were killed when a boat filled with holiday party goers collidewide a ferry and sank. it is the deadliest accident there in years. a house in clam mouth falls, oregon, that was sold this summer turned out to be a meth lab. it had toxic chemicals 80 times. the family who bought the foreclosed house from the government got sick and now has few options. the white house is lit up in pink to mark october as breast cancer awareness month. new york's empire state building is also bathed in pink. and even buckingham palace in london has gone pink to support the breast cancer awareness campaign and now here's an early look at how wall street's going to kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,515 after adding 77 points yesterday. the s&p was up 3 but the nasdaq lost 2.

taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei fell ten points while in hong kong the hang seng was closed again for a holiday. well, stocks ended mostly in the blackmon day thanks to a glimmer of economic optimism. news that manufacturing growth broke a four month roadblock sparked interest. ben bernanke will keep record low interest rates to spark the economy even after if regains momentum. analysts say winter shopping will rise 4.1% this year. that's slightly lower than predictions for the last two years. jpmorgan chase is the first target of the justice department investigation into the financial crisis. a civil lawsuit alleges bear stearns carried out billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities fraud. american express has agreed to pay $112.5 million to settle

federal charges of illegal late fees. the multi-billion dollar fraud carried out by bernard madoff began as far back as the early 1970s. this is according to a rewritten indictment bringing four charges against four long time employees. a trader joe's peanut butter recall has spread to chains including whole foods, target and stop and shop. honda is recalling 600,000 accords that may have a faulty power steering hose that can leak fluid and cause a fire. congratulations to yahoo's marissa mayer. the new ceo and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy. and in seattle, look at that. a watery welcome cast an arrival of the first 787 boeing.

it's a new daily commercial service from toek yeah. coming up, the tigers clinch, the yanks come out swinging and the cowboys get picked bear. plus champagne showers in our nation's capital. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. well, the big news in the forecast world is that cold air is coming down from canada and maybe even some snow in the northern plains. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." you disgust me. ña

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wow ! see the difference. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, the seemingly even matched chicago bears and dallas cowboys faced off under the monday night spotlight, except the dallas cowboys offense was no match for the chicago defense. dallas quarterback tony romo threw five interceptions, two were returned for touchdowns. first in the second quarter on a pass intended for dez bryant. that's picked by charles tillman and returned for 6 and again in the third just after dallas forced a fumble, romo gives it back to lance briggs who returns it 74 yards for the touchdown. bears won it 34-18. on to baseball, the yankees crushed the red sox 10-2. four yankee homers including a

two-run bomb by returning first baseman mark teixeira capped off a nine run second inning. with an orioles loss to the rays, the yanks took a one game lead in the a.l. east. in kansas city detroit's miguel cabrera had four hits to help the tigers beat the royals 6-3 and claim the a.l. central title. and, finally, that's the spirit, despite losing to the phil lease last night, the nationals still had reason to celebrate after a loss by the second place atlanta braves secured the club's first ever n.l. east crown. coming up, who's hosting the oscars and who's still the queen when it comes to highest paid women. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, some pet owners will go to almost any lengths to pam perfect their pooch, and we've got the video to prove it. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." umbrella day in areas of the ohio valley back through the mid-atlantic. it's not raining all over the place. hit-and-miss showers from west virginia and even from new york city to d.c. south florida has a good chance of getting wet weather today. the big weather story is what's going to happen here. beautiful, warm day in the north today.

fire danger high. 82 in billings, 70 in minneapolis. tomorrow, the first signs of that really cold air. rain and 12340e mix possible for areas of montana. billings drops 30 degrees. that cool air is heading all through the middle of the country. if you're watching us on kjrh 2 news in tulsa, oklahoma, see the broad spectacular scenery of five national parks through a special lens at panoramic landscapes of the american west at the gil crease museum. that's your early today event of the day. >> bill, thanks so much. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. apparently the christ continue stewart cheating scandal hasn't damaged robert pattinson's stock. he's been named world's sexiest man in the glamor u.k. poll for the fourth straight year. all right. seth mcfarland, the man behind "family guy" and the movie "ted" will host the next oscar ceremony. he hopes organizers don't find out that he also hosted the

charlie sheen roast. that may not help. well, adele can add bond girl to her resume. she'll debut it at 007 london time. 37-year-old drew berry more has given birth to a little girl named olive. oprah winfrey tops the list earning $165 million between may 2011 and may 2012. and finally, taylor swift. she keeps outdoing herself. she tells glamor magazine her exjohn mayer is being presumptuous thinking that her song dear john is about him. she never discloses that information. in june mayer told rolling stone that that song was cheap and humiliating. >> she's like a magician. she doesn't want to give up her secret. >> it's like when you put his name in the song. >> do you think she minimized the dating pool that she could

potentially -- do you think some guys would be nervous to date her? >> absolutely terrified. it's like would it be worth it? >> yeah. that weather man bill song she's coming out with, brutal. >> the weather man bill song. number one on itunes. i predict that. this comes to us from new york city where a new dog only hotel is making sure every doggy desire is met. this is unbelievable. the four legged guests reside in rooms with plush beds and flat screen tvs. amenities include personal chefs, play rooms and they have podicures. doting dog owners are sparing no expense when it comes to putting up their pet there. booking a room could cost up to 200 bucks a nice. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. we're starting out with a little bit of rain. doppler.e a look at hd scattered light showers around baltimore city. the heaviest rain no is back in virginia and into the mountains. off and on rain showers. high temperature in the mid 70's. we will check the seven-day forecast going all the way into the weekend. >> thank you.

63 degrees at the airport. catching the fever. >> fans back home are flying high. >> we keep hearing about this fiscal cliff, but what does it mean for you? how much you could pay in the new year. >> a baltimore county firefighter is arrested. >> we're monitoring and early morning accident along 100. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter what? too?

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pnc bank. for the achiever in you. those spots are actually leftover food and detergent residue that can redeposit on your dishware during the rinse cycle. gross. jet-dry rinse agent helps wash them away so the only thing left behind is the shine. jet-dry rinses away residues for a sparkling shine. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. news today. >> grab an